Safety Practices and Policies for use in the Preschool Classroom

Safety Practices and Policies for use in The Preschool Classroom:

In every early childhood environment, whether at home or at school, there is always the
potential for accidents to occur due to neglect, unsafe areas, or lack of knowledge about safe practices.

In this article, I will focus on five potentially hazardous situations in the preschool environment, safety policies and measures that should be taken at home and at school to prevent such situations, and ways to educate families and the community on safe practices.


Preschoolers have many developmental attributes that can lead them to get involved in dangerous situations. They are very egocentric, everything and everybody in his or her
world, should revolve around them. They have an invincible attitude, where they believe they can do anything. This usually manifests itself on the playground, when the preschool child attempts to jump off the top of the climber, without fear, because they saw their favorite T.V.
character attempt a similar jump, and come out fine. They do not know the difference between reality and fantasy. Everything is real to them, and they take things literally. If the librarian, who is a stranger, was kind and helped them find a book, then all strangers must be kind.
(Robertson, Cathie 2006)

To avoid such dangerous situations, a preschool environment must have in place, safe practices and policies that everyone, children, parents and staff, must be familiar with
and abide by. These should be clearly stated, written, and posted in an area that is accessible to all. There should be ongoing education and practice in the school, to ensure that safety is maintained at all times. Teachers should include in their curriculum, teaching about the dangers of strangers, playground safety and how to stay safe at home. Parents should be made aware of the schools safety practices, and encouraged to use the same rules at home. Parents should
also be the main person to teach their child about strangers, and what to do if a stranger approaches a child.


A child’s environment is another place where accidents could happen. If their school, or home is in an urban or neglected area, there is always a risk of unsafe incidents that could cause harm. Needles, debris, glass, poisons, or other objects in a home or on the street, could seriously
injure a child. Schools should maintain locks on first aid cabinets to avoid accidental poisoning, and make daily logs to check school and playground safety. To avoid such dangers at home, educators should do home visits to monitor the safety of the child’s living environment. If there are dangers found, they should be brought to the attention of the parent(s), and measures should be taken to make the environment safer. This could involve making a checklist for the parent(s) to follow, and possibly, having the child help. Another idea could be to organize a community clean up day to get the community involved in keeping the area clean and safe for all.


A third area that causes harm to children is related to behavior. If a child lives in a home with violence, there is a direct threat to his or her well-being. This could happen in two ways. Either the child is the recipient of the violence, such as in abuse cases or they could be the witness to it which could lead the child to violent behavior at school. In either situation, the teacher must
be on the lookout for signs of abuse, and keep a log of incidents, or observations involving the child. The log is critical to record the frequency and type of the incident, and the time frame for such. Maybe the child’s family is going through a rough time at home, and the child feels
safe enough at school to act out his or her aggression. In this case, the teacher should help the child work through their feelings, by modeling proper behaviors, and offering a safer way to get their aggression out. If there is abuse involved, the teacher must report it to the authorities,
using the log as proof, and follow up with the family. If an abusive situation is found at home, the teacher is responsible for helping the family access proper services.


Another area of danger involves toy safety. Although most preschoolers have moved beyond the stage of putting toys into their mouths, there are still dangers that occur with toys. These dangers could be brought on by toys that are not age appropriate. In this case a toy might be too difficult for a child to manipulate, which could lead to the malfunction of the toy, causing injury to the child or someone else. Another area is with the use of art materials. Some art supplies, such as paints are toxic if eaten or left on the skin. A teacher should always use
non-toxic paint and art supplies, and model the appropriate use of them. Teachers should also make sure that toys are not made with hazardous materials such as lead, and always check for toy recalls on parenting websites. To ensure that children are safe at home, teachers could send out a handout to parents, informing them about toy safety. Children could help their parents, by reinforcing school practices at home.


Lastly, I feel that the most important thing that we as parents and educators can do to ensure the safety of our children, is to make sure that all of their basic needs are met. A child has six main areas of basic needs. Each builds upon the other, to make the child whole. These needs start with the basics, for food, shelter and clothing. They then move on to safety and security, love and friendship, social needs, and self esteem. If any of these areas are neglected or not being met for a child, there is always a risk of injury to the child’s well being. (Robertson, Cathie, 2006)

We as educators are responsible for ensuring that we do everything that we can, to help the whole child. This involves getting the parents, community, and educators to work together to create safe environments at home and at school and following up to make sure needs are being met. If we work together as a team, the likelihood of injuries to children will hopefully decrease and we can watch as our children thrive as individuals.

References: Robertson, Cathie, Safety Nutrition, & Health
in Early Education